California, US-based drug developer, Aridis Pharmaceuticals, has developed a platform technology that enables discovery of highly potent antibodies against pathogens, as well as maximization of their production yield on a commercial scale, suggests the company.
The technology was presented recently during the antibody and cell engineering conference 19th Annual PepTalk: The Protein Science Week, in San Diego.
More specifically, the platform, known as Apex Technology Suite, is comprised of a silicon wafer-based array of nanoliter-sized tissue microculture wells that enable ‘rapid’ screening of antibody secreting cells.
Aridis suggests that Apex can potentially provide potent antibodies against virus targets “within one day of a pandemic outbreak.”
The platform also supports gene editing technology, by featuring CRISPR-enabled activation of endogenous genetic control elements, which enables a ‘dramatic’ increase in yield of biotherapeutic drugs from manufacturing production cell lines, according to Aridis.
Finally, the Apex suite has a production cell line designed for the manufacture of multiple monoclonal antibody therapeutics “at approximately half the manufacturing cycle time,” when compared with currently available manufacturing technologies.
Using its technology platform, Aridis has generated five clinical stage antibodies targeting bacteria that cause: hospital-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, bloodstream infections, and respiratory syncytial virus.
